Always shop part prices.

Out of curosity I wanted to know what a MAF cost so inquired at a parts store $140. with $70. core charge, my bottom line $70. plus tax. Not desperate so decided to ask another store and theirs is 1 year warranty remanufactured OEM $103. with a $87. core charge, my bottom line $16. bucks. WHOA! $54. difference and I can almost get a tank of gas with that.

Bought a can of CRC contact cleaner and sprayed the MAF wires/elements good with it and to me it seems to run better, so time being I'll let well enough alone and see what happens.

We're never to old to learn and henceforth you can bet your sweet pippy old Dad here will get two or three prices. By the way, the two screws that hold the MAF on have wierd heads and I took the two hose clamps loose and cleaned it that way. 03 Vulcan engine 42.3K joy, joy miles.

You may want to ask the stores about the core charge. The way a core charge generally works is when you buy the part, you pay for the price of the part PLUS the core charge. When you bring in your old part, they reimburse you for the core charge. So, bottom line, both parts are going to cost you about the same ($140 versus $103) if you return the core. However, if you don't take your core back, the first one would cost you $210, the second would cost you $190.

-Rod

"So, bottom line, both parts are going to cost you about the same ($140 versus $103) if you return the core. However, if you don't take your core back, the first one would cost you $210, the second would cost you $190."

I thought $16. bucks was a mite cheap, but I stood there and ran down the numbers in front of the sales person and she shook her head 'yes' and I wonder why didn't she correct me? Maybe she was thinking about what she was going to fix for dinner. I even went so far as to say something like, 'if it's only $16.00 it's not hardly worth the hassel of cleaning the old one because it might be defective and 'prolly best thing to do is get a new one and have done with it.' I know what a core charge is but obviously did not understand exactly how it works, . . . . but I do now, and thank you for the heads up Rod.

I looked on the web and they run $200. or better and from looking at that molded piece of plastic with the tube inside with the wires, it's hard to comprehend how something that simple looking could cost over two hundred bucks. Must be some lab work that requires real fine tuning and calibration that escalates the price and the wires must be made of platinum.

Huney1 you live in South Carolina? You could apply for a mechanic's licence with the state for about $50 a month and save all kinds of money at the dealer....or buy from a chain that caters to mechanics and doesn't charge a mark up.

Yup, SC Low Country close to Hilton Head & Savannah. We have two cars, an 05 Marquis with 9K mi under warranty and 03 Taurus, so I don't buy many parts and oil & filters I get at WalMart. Local Ford dealer charges $14.50 for oil & filter change so it's not hardly cost effective to do it myself. They use 5W-20 MotoCraft synthetic blend oil so that's good enough for the type driving us senior citizens do.

Taurus I use for a service vehicle, so it lives in town with a hop to Savannah or Charleston now and then, but when we go on a trip we take the Marquis. The Taurus is nice but on a trip it's hard to beat the ride, comfort and luxury of a Marquis.